Victor wins gold medal

SESTRIERE, Italy — Stephani Victor of Park City took charge on the first run Sunday and held on to win the slalom on the last day of the Paralympics.

Steve Cook of Salt Lake City collected his third cross country medal of the games, finishing third in the 20K classic race.

The U.S. Disabled Ski Team finished with 11 medals, eight in alpine and Cook's three in cross country as the Paralympics went to a three-category format instead of the traditional 12-class, mega-medals system of previous Paralympics. Cook and alpine sit-skier Laurie Stephens (Wenham, Mass.) each earned two golds.

Victor, who lost both legs in a bizarre traffic accident in 1995, took the downhill bronze medal at the 2002 Paralympics in Salt Lake City and won the slalom title at the 2004 World Championships. She finished with an adjusted time of 1:48.54, nearly a full second ahead of Italy's Daila Damenko, while Lacey Heward (Boise, Idaho), who faced kidney surgery in the spring, finished fourth (1:53.56) with Stephens seventh (1:54.89).

Victor, who missed the downhill after a crash during inspection jarred her, didn't rest on her first-run lead. "I knew I couldn't afford to be cautious," she said. "In the second run, I just let it go. I let the ski run and skied freely."

Heward, who had two bronze medals at the 2002 Games and won the downhill, giant slalom and slalom gold medals at the 2004 World Championships, said she would retire after this season.

"I looked out at the start, and that's the most incredible feeling," Heward said. "Your heart is pounding, your guts are twisting in knots. You have no idea what is going to happen in the next minute. That unknown is the most brilliant feeling."

Cook, who lost his right leg below the knee in a 1988 farm mishap, called it "an amazing week. I've had so much fun," he said. "I'm happy with my race today. It was a tough, long race."